Page 41 of Oracles Always Win

“I’llbe fine now.”Atleast until the next time this happened.Istifled a yawn. “Ijust need to sleep for a bit…”

“Youshould change your clothes at least.”

“Andbrush my teeth.Yeah, that’d be good.”Inodded and struggled to sit up.SometimesIpowered through after one of my painting episodes, but latelyIwas often completely zapped.Todayit was like bad luck had smacked me with a baseball bat and just kept on hitting, because on top of all the other shit that’d happened,Icould barely muster the energy to lift my head off the pillow.

Littleinsidious thoughts curled sluggishly through my head, reminding me these bouts of illness and fatigue were increasing in severity and frequency.Icouldn’t keep functioning like this.Iwondered if taking vitamins would help.Nothingelse seemed to.

Gagehelped me stand and guided me to the sink in the corner of the room.Istood in front of it and stared at the deep chip in the porcelain by the tap asItried to gather the willpower to clean up.

“Letme help,”Gagemurmured.Hereached around me and grabbed my toothbrush.Hesqueezed toothpaste onto the bristles, then handed it to me.Istared at it. “Brushyour teeth, sweetheart,” he said gently.

Huh?Hadhe really called me sweetheart?Whyhadn’t he just dumped me in my room and run far, far away?Hewasn’t acting like he was disgusted by me, nor did he seem put off by me obsessively painting someone who looked just like him.I’dhave to think about that later.Rightnow my head was too fuzzy.

AfterIfinished brushing my teeth,Gageturned me so we were facing one another.Myyawn erupted beforeIcould stop it.

“Sorry,”Imuttered.Atleast my breath was minty fresh now, so yay.

“Areyou feeling better?”

Gagebrushed a finger over my cheek.Hmm… that felt nice.I’dliked when he touched me yesterday too.Ileaned into the caress.

“Doyou need help with your clothes?”

Myeyes popped open at that question. “Uh, what?”

“You’revery tired, but you should at least take off these dirty clothes before you lie down to sleep.”

Iblinked asIreplayedGage’swords.Yeah.Okay.Thatmade sense.Everythingseemed to be in slow-motion asIfumbled with the hem of myT-shirt.Itseemed like a monumental effort to pull it up.Ifit wasn’t too dirty,Icould just leave it on.Ilooked down at it.Nope.Itwas disgusting.Ijust needed to…

“Ipromise not to do anything but help,”Gagesaid softly.Theair seemed to flutter at his words. “Isthat okay?”

Istared up atGage.Almosteveryone was taller than me, so that wasn’t such a new thing, but havingGage’simpressive body standing so close did things to me.Hemade me feel safe and protected.Hishorns didn’t detract from those feelings at all.Ihad an unshakeable conviction thatGagewas capable of handling anything life might throw at me.

Huh.

Itrusted him.Evenif he was a stranger.Howodd.

“CanIhelp?”

Right.He’dasked that before.Inodded.

MyT-shirt went first.Gageset it beside the sink.Thenhe reached for the button on my jeans.Mypulse quickened asGage’sstrong, thick fingers slipped between the waistband on my jeans and my skin.Thenhe was kneeling on the floor in front of me.Hishead was level with my hips.Andmy pants were open and being tugged down my legs.HolyMotherofOilsandAcrylics.

“Liftyour foot,”Gagecommanded.

“Fuck,”Iwhispered.Mycock was fully hard, even though my body had about as much energy as a stack of bricks.

Gagewinked at me. “Later, sweetheart.Let’sget you cleaned up and into bed so you can sleep first.”

Mycock jerked at the flirtatious suggestion.Myunderwear had a wet spot that had nothing to do with my post-painting puke fest.Ishould be embarrassed about my obvious arousal, butIwasn’t.

Thiswas a moment worthy of celebration.Iwas actually hard with another person in the same room and everything.Sostiff and erect that my underwear was actually tenting.Ihadn’t even known that was a thing;I’dalways thought it was an exaggeration.Butthere it was.Mycock.Allhard and eager.Withanother person in the room.Iwanted to jump for joy.

Or, you know, fall into bed and sleep.

Becausethe rest of my body clearly had a different agenda from my cock.

Ilifted my foot as instructed, thenGageslipped off my shoe, my sock, and then my pant leg.Werepeated everything with my other leg.ThenIwas standing in front of this unbelievably sexy—but horned—man in nothing but my underwear.Ididn’t even cringe too much when he saw the undiesI’dput on today.Theyhad little paint palettes with wings on them with the wordsI’mwinning with flying colors.Imean,Iwasn’t winning at life or anything at all, butI’dalways figured a little positive messaging, even on my underwear, couldn’t hurt.